The Middle Passage According to Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano is perhaps one of the most well-known abolitionist writers and former slaves to live in America. His narrative has been digitized as a part of the Documenting the American South North American Slave Narratives collection. His vivid retelling of his trip onboard a slave ship bound for the New World illustrates the horrific and dehumanizing experience.

A lesson plan for grades 11–12 Social Studies

By Regina Wooten

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Related pages

• Slavery and Childhood: This lesson is designed to extend student understanding of the experiences of slaves living in the American, antebellum south. The chosen samples and excerpts from the Documenting the American South collection reflect the childhood of two enslaved people born in America, Harriet Jacobs and Frederick Douglas, and two people born in Africa, Oloudah Equiano and Omar Bin Said. Two knew what it was like to be free before being captured and placed into servitude, and longed to be free again; two were born into slavery and like the two native born Africans had aspirations of freedom. Students are invited to compare their childhood memories with the lives of these children in an effort to make history more human.
• Plantation life in the 1840s: A slave's description: This lesson introduces students to a description of life on the plantation and the cultivation of cotton from the perspective of a slave. It focuses on the use of slave narratives made available by the Documenting the American South collection.
• Religion and slavery in the American South: Comparing perspectives: In this lesson plan, students consult a variety of primary sources from the Documenting the American South Collection to uncover the varied impacts of religion in the lives of slaves in the American South. They are encouraged to seek out multiple, and sometimes contradictory, perspectives of this history.

Related topics

• Learn more about African Americans, abolition, slavery, and social studies.

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn more about the kidnapping, enslavement, and transport of African slaves to the New World via the infamous Middle Passage.
• gain insight into the horrifying conditions facing slaves throughout the ordeal.

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

15 minutes

Technology resources

Internet access to Documenting the American South resources.

Pre-activities

K-W-L format

1. The teacher should divide the board into three columns. In the first column, labeled “K” (what you know) have the students brainstorm and record a list of all of the things they already know about slaver and the process of bringing slaves to the New World.
2. Next, in the “W” (what you want to know) have students list all of the things they would like to know or the subjects on which they need more information.

Activities

Have students each read the account of Equiano.

Assessment

Pair-share format

1. After students read their documents they should list all of the things they learned in the final “L” column (representing what you learned).
2. Students should share these with a partner first and then add anything to their list that they gained through collaboration.
3. Finally, as a group the students help the teacher list one long “L” on the board. Again, students should add anything they learned.
4. Teachers may choose to collect the charts for a daily participation grade or ask students to write a brief free write on the topic of the Middle Passage.

Supplemental information

These options require additional class time and extend the reading.

Option #1: Compare Olaudah Equiano’s account of passage to the New World with that of William Bradford’s writings about his journey.

Option #2: Have students conduct further research on Equiano’s life. (He is an amazing figure who eventually bought his own freedom and became a well-known abolitionist in England.)

Option #3: Students may also wish to compare Equiano’s experiences to those of other slaves or the accounts of slave traders.

Related websites

The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African

Comments

Recently, video recreations of the Middle Passage have been produced; these provide vivid illustrations of the horrendous conditions endured. Teachers should pre-view these videos, of course, as they are graphic in portions.